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MISSISSIPPIAN T h e S t u d e n t N e w s pa p e r
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HURRICANE isaac makes landfall Feeling the heat on campus Remembering the lessons learned in 2005, Gulf Coast residents were quick to prepare for Hurricane Issac, which made landfall on the eve of seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina last night.
Students and faculty are on the ‘hot seat’ in classrooms throughout campus, and many have grown weary of the temperature. BY KELTON BROOKS krbrooks@go.olemiss.edu
Picture this: constant sweating, repeated fanning, water bottles lined across desktops like dominoes and long, drawn out sighs. If you pictured yourself in a sauna, you will get partial credit. This imagery is the scene of classrooms in the buildings of Hume, Bishop, Bondurant and Shoemaker. “There are two set point temperatures for the buildings,” Physical Plant Director Ashton Pearson said. “The winter set point is 68 degrees, and the summer set point is 74 degrees.” The Energy Management
Policy for the University of Mississippi became effective in January 2012. Since then, the summer set point has changed from 78 to 74. “It’s understood that from the specified set point, the temperature in the building is allowed to drift +/- 2 degrees on either side,” Pearson said. Based on opinions and complaints by faculty and students, the logical solution is to lower the temperature in the buildings. However, Pearson explained why that solution alone will not work. “All Institutions of Higher See HEAT, PAGE 5
New state education policies Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush calls for higher education policies in Mississippi. BY DAVID KENNEDY dmkenned@go.olemiss.edu
TOP PHOTO: COURTESY ALYSIA STEELE; BOTTOM PHOTOS: STEPHEN QUINN | NEWSWATCH
TOP: Pedestrians wait to cross a flooded Beach Boulevard in Biloxi, as Tropical Storm Isaac approached on Aug. 28; BOTTOM: Snapshots the Newswatch team took while covering Isaac from the Coast.
BY STEPHEN QUINN sequinn@go.olemiss.edu
As residents braced for Isaac’s impact, which made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in southeast Louisiana Tuesday at 6:45 p.m., the scars from Hurricane Katrina still ran deep in Biloxi. Empty lots and auction signs pepper the shoreline. Seven years ago Randell Broussard looked beyond his porch and saw apartments; today he sees only dark clouds and white-capped waves. The storm reached land with winds near 80 mph and threatens to flood the coasts of four states, including Mississippi, with
storm surge and heavy rain. Katrina changed many things for the worse in this coastal town. Homes and businesses were completely wiped out, and the town’s lucrative casinos were either blown or washed away. The damage was done, but the lesson in the midst of Hurricane Isaac has been rewarding. When Broussard made the decision to rebuild his home in 2005, he made a critical choice: to build higher. “I brought 6,000 yards of a clay (and) sand mix in here, brought the land up, this was all back filled, chain walled with rebar,” Broussard said.
Broussard is not the only Biloxian to have made such an investment. Local businesses such as Sharkheads and Sharper’s Seafood Restaurant use stilts to protect their beachfront businesses. These changes come only five months after Mississippi was ranked last in building standards of all hurricane-prone states by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. For Broussard, it’s a lesson better learned than lost. Biloxians aren’t the only ones who look back on that August day in 2005 with mournful See ISAAC, PAGE 5
On Aug. 9, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush urged Mississippi lawmakers to call for higher academic standards and more accountability from Mississippi schools, similar to the policies he put in place as the governor of Florida. According to Peter Smith of the Mississippi State Board of Education, Mississippi is heading in the right direction with some new policies that are going to be put in place. “We feel that some of the new changes, new curriculum and new programs, such as common course base standards, will show that progress can grow at an even faster pace,” Smith said. The most recent change, an adaptation of one of Florida’s laws, was implemented July 1 when Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed the School Letter Grade Bill. This new law will grade the performance of public schools on an A-F scale just like students are graded. With new course
base standards, schools will be held accountable for student performance. Elizabeth Kelley, an education freshman from California, said she believes the new policies will help her perform better when she becomes an elementary school teacher. “With the new A-F grading policy, it will kind of hold me up to a higher accountability level, and I’ll want to achieve higher (performance) and have my students achieve more, too,” she said. “I think the state recognizes where we are in this situation, and I want to be part of the solution.” Smith and the rest of the Board of Education know they have a long way to go, but having people who are willing to be part of serving the education policy only helps their cause. “I think it’s important to know that Mississippi didn’t get in this situation, as far as being at the bottom of education rankings, overnight,” Smith said. “It’s gonna be a steady process before we get to the top.”